Toby Aldeweireld insists Tottenham have the strength to handle Manchester United despite the lack of recovery time before they visit Old Trafford.
Spurs have a gap of a little more than 60 hours between the end of last night’s Carabao Cup defeat by West Ham at Wembley and Saturday’s 12.30pm kick-off against United, who have had an extra 24 hours’ rest after beating Swansea on Tuesday.
Tottenham will assess Harry Kane today and tomorrow after the England forward left the field clutching his hamstring towards the end of last Sunday’s 4-1 win over Liverpool. Both Mauricio Pochettino and Kane played down the problem initially but the Tottenham manager would only say “we’ll see” when asked about Kane by television channel beIN Sports last night.
Tottenham have tried to play down the post-match interview but Standard Sport understands there are some doubts about whether Kane will be ready to face Jose Mourinho.
Losing Kane, who has scored 15 times in as many matches for club and country this season, would be a huge blow for Tottenham, especially as Fernando Llorente struggled to make an impact in front of goal against West Ham.
Llorente was taken off soon after West Ham’s third goal, leaving Spurs without an orthodox centre-forward on the pitch when they needed to chase the game.
Tottenham face Real Madrid in the Champions League next Wednesday before facing Crystal Palace in the Premier League four days later, prior to the international break.
When Spurs have finished against Palace, they will have played seven games in 22 days and Alderweireld admitted they have had little time for training and preparation in this period.
The Belgium defender said: “It’s all about recovery and being ready for the games. They’re tough games as well. You see the Champions League is tough, and we play big fixtures in the Premier League as well — it’s a high standard. But we try to keep up and I think we’re physically ready for this programme.
“Unfortunately it was a bad result against West Ham but we don’t have to let it get to us.
“It’s something good now that we have a game coming up very quickly to change this.
“Our pre-season was very tough and that’s for one reason: to be ready and have the muscles ready for the big games and when there’s a big load of it, so I think we’re ready for it and we want to show it on Saturday.”
Tottenham appeared to be cruising into the quarter-finals of the competition after taking a 2-0 half-time lead but were undone by three West Ham goals in 15 minutes and failed to react in time.
Mousa Dembele and Christian Eriksen were sent on in search of an equaliser but still they could not find one.
Alderweireld added: “Of course you have to learn from it, not think ‘oh we don’t mind’.
“Of course we’re disappointed but we have to pick up and focus on Saturday.
“There’s a big game coming up and we have to stand there and be ready for it.”